E-Safety Information

Know your child’s net use. To be able to guide your child’s Internet use, it is important to understand how they use the Internet and know what they like to do on-line.

Remember that the positive aspects of the Internet outweigh the negatives.

Encourage your child to be Webwise and explore the Internet to its full potential. The Internet is an excellent educational and recreational resource for children.

Discover the Internet together. Be the one to introduce your child to the Internet. This could make it easier to share both positive and negative experiences in the future.

Agree with your child on a framework for Internet use in your home. Try to reach an agreement with your child on how long they should spend online and what types of sites and activities are ok.

Encourage your child to be careful when disclosing personal information. Being aware of when and where it is all right to reveal personal information is vital.

Talk about the risks associated with meeting online friends. It is important that children do not meet strangers they have met on the net without being accompanied by an adult, friends or others they trust.

Teach your child about source criticism on the net. Not all information found online is correct. Educate children on how to verify information they find.

Don’t be too critical towards your child s exploration of the Internet. Remember it not always their fault if they come across something inappropriate content on the Web.

Report online material you may consider illegal to the appropriate authorities. It is important that we all take responsibility for the Web and report matters, which we believe could be illegal.

Encourage good Netiquette. As in everyday life, there are informal ethical rules for how to behave when relating to other people on the Internet.

Keep the computer in a common room.

Set mobile rules. As soon as children begin to use them agree a list of rules, including whether your children can access virtual worlds by phone and how they can use them.

Use only virtual worlds that moderate conversation by both automatic filters and by humans.

Ensure filtering and content lock is in place.

Ensure children follow age limits on the site, if they are under the age recommended by the site, do not let them use the site.

Control use of credit cards and other payment, such as mobile phone credit.